Category: Q&A

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By

A new USRowing rule for sprint starts does not recognize hands at the starting line; they simply wait for alignment and then call the start. At my race today, the marshals called the start before coxswains got their points, which led to us steering into each other’s lanes for about the first twenty strokes fairly severely. How do you let the marshals know whether or not you’re ready without the hand up if they rush the start like they did today?

What’s supposed to happen, from what I understand, is that as people are getting locked on to the stake boats and being aligned by the officials on the side, you’re supposed to be getting your point at the same time, which is how it normally is. Previously they would wait until all hands were down until they would start the countdown or just say “attention, go” but they eliminated that (understandably, too) because coxswains were taking way too long to get their points, which was causing events to run behind schedule, which eventually led to the entire regatta being behind schedule. It’s a huge hassle and it sucks that the change had to be made but all in all I think it’s a good thing because it forces coxswains to really be on top of their game.

You can still have your hand up while you’re being aligned and everything so they can tell that you’re getting your point but as soon as the crews are aligned and they start the countdown, you’re on your own. Nobody is going to wait. It’s not so much them rushing the start though as it is them just following the new rules – although admittedly, to all the coxswains it’s going to feel rushed, especially if you aren’t ready. You’ve got to use the time beforehand wisely and know exactly what needs to be done to get you straight. Typically the announcers will say “2 minutes to start”, “1 minute to start”, etc. so you know how much time you have (at least, that’s what they did at my races). That’s a good question to ask at the coxswain’s meeting too, if they alert you to how much time there is before the start. It’s always good to practice getting your point during practice (in varying weather conditions) so you know exactly what needs to be done and how long it should take you to get your point if the wind is calm vs. when there’s a strong crosswind, etc. That’ll help you be more prepared for situations like this on race day.

If you have a problem with other coxswains steering into your lane and it somehow inhibits your race, that’s something you can protest afterwards, but in this situation I’m not sure what they would do if multiple coxswains are steering into each other’s lanes due to not being ready for the start. It’s a tricky situation. My suggestion is to get locked on to the stake boats as quickly as possible so that you have plenty of time to get your point. If it’s windy, remember to overcorrect so that when you start you’ll be blown straight. There’s nothing wrong with a little steering at the beginning of the race but that’s really the only place you want to have to do it. Also make sure that your rowers are paying attention and do what you ask them to do immediately. That’s one of the things that always heightens my nerves is when I ask someone to row and they don’t immediately respond.

The last resort is to just not leave the starting line. If you are so far off course that you know you’re going to steer into another crew’s lane then just don’t go when the officials say “go”. They’ll tell you this at the coxswain’s meeting to. They’ll stop the race, bring everyone back to the start, you’ll probably get a warning, and then they’ll re-start you. The biggest thing to remember is to not let it have any lasting effect on your race. Just stay calm, readjust, straighten out, and get on with the race.

Coxing Novice Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By

I’m a novice walk-on coxswain and I’m coxing a boat largely made up of walk-ons as well. We’re a pretty decent boat, but they have a tendency to just fall apart whenever they start hitting higher stroke rates. Races make them nervous and before we know it we’re rushing up those slides, our technique’s falling apart, and we’re hitting sprint rates at the 1000m mark. Being right next to other boats in particular freaks us out, especially when they’re making a move. Is there any way I can calm them down other than the obvious, “bodies calm, slow on the recovery,” calls? I’m having a hard time balancing the need to calm them down and keeping the intensity of a race piece. Thanks!

This is more of an issue you have to work on during practice over a period of time vs. being something you can fix with a few good calls on race day. They have to recognize that rowing at an unsustainable pace isn’t getting them anywhere and it’s not going to get them anywhere. I’ve said this before but rowing in a race is like driving. You’ve got to be aware of what the other cars are doing but in general not pay them any attention. I don’t know how they expect to have a good race if being by other boats freaks them out.

Why it freaks you out is the bigger question. Until you figure out the answer to that question, nothing else will do you much good. I know that sounds super shrink-like but whatever you do to fix the problem isn’t going to make much of a difference if you don’t know what the actual problem actually is. My first suggestion would be to sit down with them and figure that out. If their answer involves them saying “I don’t know” or anything about thinking they’re going to lose because people are beside them, feel free to smack them on the head and tell them to suck it up and get their shit together.

Call wise, telling them where they are in the race and what they need to do to maintain their position, make a move, or walk away is always helpful. Sometimes rowers get frantic like that because their coxswain isn’t telling them what’s happening so they assuming the race is going to hell and then they start freaking out and then the race really does go to hell. Keep them updated on their progress. Also tell them to FOCUS from the very beginning. As soon as you get locked on at the start, tell them to forget about everything else other than the other eight people in the boat and the oar in their hand. Deep breaths, focus on the goal of the race (whatever it is – winning alone is not a goal).

Talk to them about their technique – swinging together out of bow, moving eight as one, no weight on the legs on the recovery, smooth, controlled, and composed on the slides, rotating towards the riggers, getting that length, unweighting the hands, strong, sharp catches, jump on the first inch, drive the legs down, power through the water, layback, still maintaining the strong core and straight back, chin up, eyes forward, loose upper body, get the handle all the way in, clean finishes, tap down with the outside hand, aggressive with the feathering (you want to hear the oarlocks – one sound), smooth, quick hands away, sitting up tall at bodies over, patience on the slide, maintain the handle heights, building excitement to the catch, catching sharp, driving determined through the water.

The more you work on this during practice, the better you’ll be on race day. It can’t all happen during the race. Talk to them and figure out what’s up. From there, start working with your stroke on maintaining a good rate and not letting the bow 7 push him/her up the slide. Get the overall technique and slide control down, then start pushing them. When you know they’ve got it, demand more. Push them to push themselves. During the race, you’re not their friend, therapist, etc. – you’re their coxswain. The intensity has to be there 100% of the time, regardless of what is happening around you. If you’re confident, they will be too. Talk like you believe every single word that’s coming out of your mouth and they’ll believe you too.

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By

What would you do if one of your rowers caught a crab during a sprint race?

If they caught a small-medium crab that was easily recoverable from, I wouldn’t do anything. Maybe a quick “get back into it, good recovery” but that’s it. If it was a large crab that caused the handle to go over their head and threw off my point, I’d stop, let them recover, then re-start as quickly as possible. I’d also remind the rower(s) to shake it off, refocus, and get us back in the race.

If it were an ejector crab, I’d do whatever we were told to do in the coxswain meeting. Sometimes you’re required to stop, other times you’re supposed to keep going and let the launches following the race pick up the rower. It depends but it’s something you should know.

Related: So I was watching ejector crab videos for a fun and I was wondering if someone falls out of the boat during a race should I stop or just keep going and leave them behind? I’m a novice coxswain. Thanks!

What I would not do, however, is freak out, lose my composure, and forget about the other seven people in the boat … or the fact that we’re racing. You’ve gotta be ready for anything because it’s your job to instruct the crew on what to do and how to recover. If you don’t have control over the situation and all the rowers are yelling and doing their own thing, it’s gonna make it that much tougher to get back into it.

Sometimes when we were doing 4x1k pieces, our coach would tell a rower on land (unbeknownst to the rest of us) that he wanted them to catch a crab sometime during the 3rd piece. We never knew it was coming and it was good practice for us because it was different every time – sometimes it was an easy recovery, other times the rower would really commit to it and catch an overhead crab that would not only force us to stop but also give me the added challenged of correcting my point while trying to manage everything else. I can’t recall if anyone ever caught a crab during a race but if they had, I definitely think we would have been prepared for it.

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By

How do you stay calm during races? I freak out when our boat is down after the first 500 and my coxing goes downhill.

It’s hard to explain – it’s one of those things I just do. I know that my job is to think for the rowers when they’re too tired to think for themselves and I tend to focus so hard on the race and what we’re trying to accomplish that I don’t even have time to freak out once we’ve started. Plus, I can’t think for nine people if I let my nerves consume me. It’s just not possible. My time to “freak out” (internally) before we launch or at the latest, on the way to the starting line and while I’m getting locked on to the stake boat. As soon as the official starts the countdown, I’m focused on racing. When he says “go” all the nerves immediately convert to adrenaline which just makes my coxing that much more intense.

If you get down early that’s when you have to really have to maintain your composure and push your rowers to stay in it. If they sense that you’re falling apart, they will too. I don’t cox any differently when we’re down vs. when we’re up. I might push them harder if they’re down but my tone of voice, what I’m saying, etc. doesn’t change. The easiest solution would be to not get down after the first 500. The second easiest solution is to simply focus on you, your boat, and your race. You have to be aware of the other boats but at the same time you have to ignore them and focus on what you’re doing. It’s like driving…you aren’t actually paying attention to the other cars on the road but you’re aware of when they speed up or slow down.

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

By

Ok, so I’m a novice coxswain. I’m the only coxswain my team has, but we have 2 eights of girls, so the JV cox coxes the B Boat while I cox the A Boat. My coach told me that even though I have the A boat right now, I can be bumped down. I want to know if you have any advice for a novice competing with a more experienced coxswain? I’m really trying to just be confident, but is there anything else?

Commit to learning (about rowing, coxing, your rowers, yourself, etc.). Be coachable. Listen to everything your coach says and use what they say as calls on the water. I never realized how big a deal this was to my coaches until I became a coach. Hearing your coxswains repeat something that you said to the rowers is awesome because it shows that you were paying attention, you know why the coach said what they said, and you recognize why it’s important for the rowers to keep hearing it.

Exude confidence in everything you do. Do everything like you know it’s right unless someone tells you otherwise. Be a little cocky but never obnoxious. Respect your teammates. Be a hardass when it’s necessary but know when to turn it off. Don’t settle for anything less than the best. Push your rowers. Act like an experienced coxswain. Ask for constant feedback from your rowers and coach(es) and use it to help you improve. Be humble with the positive feedback and understanding with the constructive criticism. Make your rowers want to come to practice and always act like you want to be there. Have fun. You have the best spot in the boat but you also carry the most responsibility. Strive to be great.

Novice Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

By

I’m being forced to bow a quad in an upcoming practice. I’ve been sculling for a week and I feel a little intimidated. I don’t even know which oar I have to put pressure on to turn the boat in my desired direction. The only time I’ve had any experience was when I was in a double with a varsity member. I didn’t learn the basics, but from being in that position I learned how to sound confident. Do you have any tips?

Take your time. If you’re not sure what to do, ask. That is always preferable to guessing, even if it takes a few seconds out of practice. Try and figure out what you’re doing during practice before you get on the water so that you have a chance to go over the practice plan with your coach and can get an idea of what you need to say. Assuming your coach is going out with you, it might be better to just let him tell the crew what to do so you can focus on rowing and steering. That’s how it normally works with novice coxswains.

If you want to turn the boat to starboard (your left), you’ll need to row with your right oar. If you want to turn the boat to port (your right), you’ll need to row with your left oar. Basically whichever way you want to turn, row with the opposite oar.

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By

So we recently got a new coach and she said that she is not going to group us based on experience anymore and that we pretty much have to try out for varsity again. As a two season varsity rower I think it’s unfair that I have to prove myself to this coach and that she’s bulldozed over all of my hard work and making me start from scratch. Would you ever do that? Also, is there any way to not get huge thighs from rowing?

Personally no, I wouldn’t do that. I would reserve the right to maybe reevaluate seats (over a lengthy period of time) in the varsity boats if I felt someone wasn’t deserving of their spot in the first eight or if someone in the third eight deserved to be in the second, but I wouldn’t make someone try out again. I think there has to be respect from the rower’s end that she’s the coach and is going to do things how she wants to do them (regardless of whether or not people agree) but there also has to be respect on the coach’s end for the work that everyone has put into getting where they are now. To disregard all of that seems selfish.

Rowers are blessed/cursed with the gift of thunder thighs. The quads and hamstrings are THE main muscles that we employ while rowing (I say “we” like I actually row or something), so naturally the more they get used, the stronger they become, and the larger the muscles get. Just like there’s no way to prevent people from saying “your arms must be so strong!”, there’s no way to prevent getting huge thighs. Embrace it!

Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By

What do you find the most difficult thing about coaching? Besides money issues/weird hours…

The most difficult thing about coaching for me, disregarding the money and hours, is working with people who are less dedicated than I am. When I commit to doing something, I commit 100%, not because I’m trying to be that person who is overly enthusiastic or a suck up or whatever but because to me, that just seems like the “normal” thing to do. I think it probably just comes off like that because most other people appear to be OK with settling whereas I’m not.

If you commit to participating in something, why wouldn’t you show up every single day? Isn’t it like, oh I don’t know, assumed that you need to be at every single practice? It pisses me off when people say “oh, well, it was cold so I didn’t think we had practice” or “it rained this morning (for ten minutes) so we didn’t bring clothes or tennis shoes because we didn’t think we’d be going out (eight hours after it stopped raining)”. In that same vein, I have zero patience for people who half-ass the workouts, especially the easy stuff like calisthenics. Complaining about every single exercise, making no effort to do it properly, and then complaining even more because you’re sore and/or hurt yourself … why are you even there? You’re wasting everyone’s time and making me question whether or not you actually want to be there. If you’re not putting any effort into practice, where is my motivation to put any effort into coaching you?

People act like saying things like that is taboo or whatever, like it’s not something coaches should ever think or say, but I disagree. If you’re going to make it apparent that you don’t want to be there or you’re less dedicated than your teammates and coaches, I’m not going to hide my lack of interest in coaching you. I’d rather focus my attention on the people who show up and do what needs to be done without acting like they’re having their teeth pulled.

Coxing How To Q&A

Question of the Day

By

Is there a ‘right way’ to sit in the coxswain seat? My left foot always gets super numb during practice!

You should make sure your low back is pressed against the back of the seat and your feet are pressed into the footboard on either side of your cox box (if you have it in your boat – some boats, like Resolutes, don’t). This will help you feel the boat but it might not always be the most comfortable.

Sometimes my foot goes numb too or I’ll get an epic cramp in my hip but I attribute it mostly to sitting for a long period of time with my muscles tenser than they should be. I often have to remind myself to relax because I can feel when a cramp in my leg is coming on and those things hurt. Usually when we stop rowing I’ll stretch my legs out in front of me or stand up and stretch for a second to loosen everything back up.

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By

How can I figure out distance in a race? I have trouble figuring out how much is 500 meters, half way and so on. I have a sprint race coming up and I want to have a race plan and do a power ten at half way but how will I know where that it? Is there a sign?

There are typically large buoys that mark the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m marks along the course. The last 100-250m, depending on the course, are also usually all small, red buoys. Even if courses aren’t divided by buoyed lanes they should still have at the very least buoys marking each 500m.

Determining distances was always tricky for me too but I got creative and taught myself how to recognize 50m, 100m, 250m, 500m, etc., which is basically what you have to do. I got a map of the river and plotted out how far certain things were from each other (usually notable landmarks, like the distance from a bridge to the boathouse or this really obvious tree to the marina) and then forced myself to pay attention to how long it took us to go from Point A to Point B when we’d row past those landmarks. By getting a feel for what the distance looked and felt like, I was better able to guesstimate those same distances during races or pieces. It took a lot of time (at least a year or so) before I was really comfortable with it but it was worth it.